


The Escape

by TheHirsch



Category: Almost Human, And There Is Hope!, Xinia
Genre: Character Study, Crossover, Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Survival, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2019-10-20 23:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17632124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHirsch/pseuds/TheHirsch
Summary: Kennex managed to escape his captors now his goal is to get home and don't get captured again. He has to survive in the Siberian wilderness.





	1. Chapter 1

John ran, he ran as fast as he could. The trees and bushes around him were nothing more as blurry silhouettes. He grasped the big cut in his side that was still bleeding and it was hurting more with every set he took. He continued to turn to look over his shoulder, to check if they had caught up to him. He hoped not. They would kill him if they found him.   
He was in the wilderness, and not sure where exactly. He had just left the dense forest and reached something that looked like swamps.   
He started to grew weary from running, he was about the throw up, dizzy from blood loss and weak from hunger. His heart beat faster as he waded through the muck. He had to use every strength he had. His mind started racing. Would he ever be home again? Was there any chance he would get out of here alive?  
He knew he couldn't go much longer but he had to go as far from the captors as he could. He had to keep going.  
He went on, becoming weaker and weaker with every minute. Before his legs could give in, he finally managed to lean onto a large, bald tree. Just when he realised that he was sinking into the mud.  
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Anxiously he glanced around to see where his captors were and if they had spotted him. They were nowhere in sight and he sighed in relief. He stopped fighting against the force that pulled him down, knowing that it had made it worse.  
Now he was lying there chest deep in thick mud. His thoughts were racing and his heart was pounding rapidly. There were no captors to be seen, he hoped that they would not find him. He would rather die than go back to them.   
As night fell, his head felt like it was about to explode in a very painful headache and his ears rang out loudly in a tinnitus. He felt like he was going insane. The swamp spun around his tired eyes. He struggled to keep them open, he knew his captors could find him any second.  
John shifted, trying to stay upright. The mud was thick and cold, and it felt like it was waiting to eat him up.   
The noise in his ears grew louder and his eyes got heavier and heavier. He stared up into the night sky, the mud now just covering his mouth as he drifted into unconsciousness.  
He woke up again, only briefly, hearing the barking of a dog but the darkness around his eyes too big to see anything except the sky. And then he passed out again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can stop reading here, if you prefer an open ending.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlike in my previous stories, I took Kennex into the Xinian Verse this time, made him a former XSO agent, to be captured after rebelling against the new lead, as most of the top agents.

Natasha was wandering through the woods, the rifle over her shoulder. Her search was now lasting way too long, she was thankful that it was summer out here in the Siberian plain.  
In a few meters she could see the soft blue morning light coming towards her, she was about to leave the woods.   
Here eyes were fixed on the narrow path infront of her, following the young husky that was her constant companion. She could not take one wrong step or she would sink in the swamp and maybe be recovered later as an epic looking mummy.  
Suddenly her dog, Oscar, speed up and started barking.  
“Oskar, stop. You most reckless comrade,” she shouted, laughing.   
The dog was heading towards a bald tree. As soon as she reached it too, she noticed what had aroused the dog’s attention.  
A man in the mud, right behind the tree, he had sunken until right under his nose. He was pale and there was a big lesion over his eyebrow. He didn't respond to the dog licking his face, or what was left above mud. She took a step back, to be back in the save path, taking off her backpack and to tie her rope around the tree and then around her waist, scared she would follow the man in there. She took off her jacket and pullover until she was just in a tank top. She lied down, just right to the tree. She drowned her arms into the mud trying to grab the man under his shoulder to pull him out.  
Oscar sat behind her, watching curiously.   
While she did this she couldn't avoid that his head went under, but she had him. The man was heavy and the muck was holding him tight but she managed to get him out on solid ground.  
First she cleaned off his face, making sure his airways were clear.  
He was pale, in shock, possibly hypothermic and still unconscious.   
He didn't wear much clothes, except shorts and an undershirt, not even shoes. She covered him with her blanket, sure it would become dirty but once the mud dried it could be removed and she had to warm him up.  


When John regained consciousness, he saw a red-haired woman bending over him. She looked like someone who could, remotely, resemble a park ranger or a special forces soldier. Panic rose inside of him. They had found him.  
“Are you in pain?” she asked.  
“What?” he responded, not understanding.  
“Are you in pain?” she asked again, in English this time.  
“Who are you?“ he tried to get up, but he was not really able to move.  
“My name is Alexandra Nikolashin,” she answered, of course remembering to not use her real name. Especially since the Bureau Of Foreign Investigations (BoFo) was still after her. She could not compromise her mission.  
He moved, trying to sit up. He wanted to run away again.  
“Stop, you are hurt,” she said firmly and held him down with a hand.  
Even though he was still in a bad shape, he reached up, his right hand grabbing her throat, she gasped for air but had already her pistol aimed at is head, Oskar too had stood up and was barking.  
“Stop or I'll blow your brains out,” she said very quietly while gasping for air.  
He loosened his grip a bit but didn't let go.  
“I'm not after you, I found you by accident,” she tried to explain with a raspy voice, her finger still on the trigger.  
He murmured something and then let go of her.  
She fell down next to him, trying to breathe normally. She was still holding her gun even though it was not pointed at him anymore.  
“How did you find me?” he asked and groaned.  
“Oskar found you,” she pointed towards the young huskey, who was now standing over him.  
John turned his head to see the dog, now he could also see Natasha's bag, her rifle and the rest of her.  
John didn't relax, quite the opposite, he got up with all his remaining strength, this time.  
Neither Natasha nor John knew that they were on the same side.  
He got up and run, blackness before his eyes, since he had gotten up that fast. He ran a few meters up the path, further into the swamps but then passed out again.  
Natasha got up to him and checked if he had hurt himself.  
When he woke up a few minutes later, he saw her bending over him again but her gun was bolstered, instead she was offering him a hand up.  
When he was back on his feet, leaning against her in order to hold balance, he realised that he was not bleeding anymore. The mud had dried on his clothes and started to fall off.  
He lifted his shirt, to find his wound and the area around it cleaned and the cut held together by strips.  
He looked down to her, she was shorter than him. “You fixed me?”  
She nodded.  
She helped him back to the place where the solid chunk of land was a bit bigger.  
“You are still dehydrated, I couldn't give you something to drink when you were out,” she explained as soon as he was seated again.  
She pulled out a plastic drinking bag out of her pack. “Here.”  
He refused it, scared that she had put something into it.  
Natasha knew why he acted this way. She rolled her eyes at this and then took a gulp from it. “See, it's safe,” she said with a smile.  
He hesitated but then took it and drank, he had been very thirsty.  
She put the blanket back around his shoulders. “I'm afraid I have no clothes that fit you. Thankfully it's summer, ” she said softly.  
“Where am I?” he asked after he drank. He was watching her, she could be a threat to him but she had also helped him, more than once.  
“Russia, about forty kilometers away from Sorgut,” she pointed into the direction of the city. “So what were you doing out here?”  
“Running away.”  
“From whom?”  
“I don't know. And I don't even know how I got here. They want to know something, something I can't remember. They are still looking after me.” Of course he knew who he was running away from. He probably was wanted as a traitor. His former employer now was his enemy.  
“We won't make it to the city as long as you are in a bad state. But we need to get out of the open. Back into the woods, where they can't see us from above.”  
He nodded, agreeing to this attitude, but he was still not sure if he could trust her. On first glance she didn't seem like she was one of _them_. Something was strange about her though, he couldn't explain.  
“Do you think we can make it over there?” she pointed over to the edge of the forest.  
“With your help, I can make it.”  
Natasha started packing her stuff and then helped John to get up, slowly this time.  
“Oskar, come,” she said to the dog.  
Who stood up and then started to head slowly back towards the woods. He lead the two back on a save path.  
When the three reached the forest and had found a spot in the understorey that provided cover she helped Kennex sit down before setting up a camp. She span a camouflage coloured tarp over a little gap in the bushes. After she had set it up she walked around to check how visible it was and did some adjustments.  
“How long are you out here already?” John asked.  
“A month, maybe,” she shrugged.  
“What are you eating?”  
“Animals, berries and I have some protein bars with me which can last a few weeks, if needed.“  
John nodded.  
“So what's your name?” she asked, realising she didn't ask yet.  
“Ivan,” he answered with a grin. Technically not wrong. “Just kidding, my name is John.”  
Natasha laughed. She got a protein bar out of her pack and handed it to him. “I would go to hunt something but I'm not sure we are safe.”  
He shrugged. “Give me your sidearm and I can keep myself safe.”  
Natasha laughed at this. “Nice try, mate, but no.”  
He grinned, it was the response he had expected.  
His head was still hurting and the cut in his side too, even though she had fixed it.  
“What did you do to my wound?” he asked.  
“I cleaned, flushed it a few times and then closed it with strips.”  
“Flushed it, with what?”  
“Vodka,” she answered with a shrug.  
“Right, I forgot. This is Russia and you are Russian. So what do we do?” he asked.  
“We stay low a few days, hide. And then go to the City when you are better.”  
“Thanks for helping me,” he said and looked down.  
“You are welcome,” she smiled and then got out another protein bar, which she splint in half. She ate one part and gave the other to him.  
Helping him was, even though it was slowing her down, she just could not leave him alone, it was strictly against her morals.  
Both were not trusting each other. Both had experienced things in the past that had changed them tremendously.


	3. Chapter 3

Oskar was lying next to them between the trees and bushes. Suddenly he started to snarl quietly. He was trained to not get up and bark even though he would liked to do that at that moment.   
Natasha held a finger in front of her lips, telling John to be quiet and then stroked the dogs head to tell him to shut up too. She reached for her rifle, but left the rest of her stuff where it was.   
She left their hiding stop while staying low, to see what was going on.   
There were two men on a path, they were headed towards the swamps, probably looking for John.   
They both held automatic guns in their hands and were looking around as if they were looking for something. They were dressed in black tactical gear, no helmets and even though they were unmarked their uniforms were clearly XSO.   
Natasha, now lying on the ground, scoffed. And then drew bead on them. The man who was walking last, she aimed at his head, exhaled and fired, the second one straight afterwards before he would even figure out what was going on.   
After she was sure there were no more in the area, she got up and down to them. Making sure they were dead and couldn't call for help.   
John who had heard the gun fire had gotten up, followed by Oskar, who was not happy about that.   
Oskar tried to slow him down, but when he realised that John was headed towards his mistress, instead of running away, he stopped.   
John practically fell the last few meters down the hill.   
“What the hell?” he asked but when he realised who the dead were, he calmed down a bit. “Thanks.”  
Natasha was checking them both over, taking their ammo and backpacks contents.   
“He seems to be your size, take his clothes,” she said and pointed towards one of the two dead agents. And it sounded more like an order, even though it was unintentional.   
“They were after you?” she asked.   
“Yes, those are the kind of people I escaped from. And you just--” he paused missing the words.   
“--shot them? Yes, I did.”  
“Two shots fired, two dead agents. You are a good shot. Since you seem to exactly know who they are and that you had to shot them without warning them first, you can maybe tell me who you really are and what your real mission out here is.”  
“I can’t. What if you are one of them, trying to spy on me?” she said.   
“Okay, then let me tell you my story first. My name is Lieutenant John Kennex. I used to work for the XSO, weird things happened, I asked too many questions, now I’m here.”  
“Commanding officers have been replaced by doubles to stop agents from sniffing around. But they keep the originals around, I’m searching for my General.”  
“On your own?” he asked, not believing this.   
“I have Oskar and the Phoenix supports me with tech and gear and intel.”  
“Phoenix is a real thing?”   
“Yep,” she said.   
“What will we do with them? They'll have chips to find them.”  
“We take their stuff and dump them in the swamps,” she said with a shrug.   
John frowned. 

As night fell, Natasha lied down to sleep, close to John but Oskar between them. He would wake her if something would happen. The only way she could sleep at all, even though she always kept her gun on her.   
In the middle of the night she woke up, John was turning and tossing. Over the ambient of the choir or cicadas, she could hear how he was murmuring something.   
“Are you cold, mate?” she asked when she noticed how he was shivering. She now allowed her language to become more Xinian.   
“Yes, and I’m in pain,” he replied quietly.   
She opened the zipper of her sleeping bag and got up, she took a step over Oskar to now lie back down directly next to John. She covered him completely under her bag and took that small part that was left for her and the blanket he had had before.   
It was her intention to keep him warm, make sure he was back to normal quickly, and if he would try to attack her she would not hesitate to knock him out or even kill him, that was for sure.   
“Sorry, I have no painkillers with me,” she whispered as she felt his back against her’s.   
“It’s alright, I have been worse,” he answered.   
“Losing a limb is never fun.”  
“You saw my leg?”  
“Yes, I have the tendency to spot synthetic limbs fast, had a colleague who lost a hand and later his leg. Also I did a full assessment body check when I found you, such things are hard to miss,” she said with a smile.   
“You’ve got medical training?”  
“Yeah. I’m a surgeon.”  
“Shouldn't you work in a hospital and not wander through the Russian wilderness with a sleight dog?”  
She chuckled at this.   
But he continued, “wait, that’s not it. The way you act, move, set up that camp. You are a soldier.”  
“Were, John. I was a military doctor. Long time ago. It didn’t end well. And you, you are some kind a copper, am I right? I'd say BoFO, since your American accent is perfect.”  
John smiled. “That’s about it. I was born in the US. I guess I'm real lucky, I met you.”   
“Get some rest,” she said, trying to put an end to this conversation. This was getting a bit too personal and she didn't feel like talking about her origins.


	4. Chapter 4

“Are you serious?” Natasha yelled into his direction. Of course she had spotted him hovering over her things. “I thought, we were in this together?”  
He had not done anything yet, she was as paranoid as him. He hesitated, no this was not right.   
“I mean what can you do, come out and go after me?” he asked, ironically with a big grin.   
She laughed and started swimming into his direction, freestyling. She was not the best but she was good. He watched her rise out of the water, he couldn't help it but to see all the countless scars on her shoulders, chest and back. They were of different age.   
There was a well healed gunshot scar under her clavicle and huge areas on back and shoulders that were burned and scarred by shrapnel. The scars seemed to be of different age. Judging by their size and amount she had to be traumatised.   
“It's impolite to stare,” she snarled half kidding half serious.   
John had lost all the joy from his face, he would not dream to imagine what had happened to her, and now he was searching for the right words. “I was wondering how you are still alive…” he said. He had decided to go for the truth.   
She had wrapped herself up into the towel. “Until about half a year ago, I was indeed without life and purpose.”  
***  
A little later they were sitting in their camp, Natasha back in her gear. They were having breakfast. She could not tell how and why, but she liked him even though she still could not trust him fully.   
“The latest set of scars is from 2030, my partner and I, we sensed that something was going on and we did research off the books. We had switched from the Nubakonian Police to the BoFO in 2026 but we had done some international missions before that. That said we were not new to the field. After our third team member had left us, I became team leader and one night where we had a rescue mission to NYC we got lured into a trap, as I later found out the XSO had tried to get rid of us, so we would stop sniffing around. Since we switched to the BoFO all of had escape plans, plans to leave the XSO if needed. That night I was badly injured, a gas tank exploded right behind us and I tried to shield my partner. Everything is blurry from that on but I know that I somehow escaped back to Nubakon and got treated by a doctor before going to Moscow and hiding there, always thinking I had left my partner to die on that roof, that night. But she didn't die. She survived, if barely she made it. She visited me in Moscow and I almost shot her into her brand new face.”  
Kennex chuckled at that.   
“When she went back to her old one to prove to me, it was her I really regretted to have left her there alone, let's say her face looks like my back.”A shiver ran down her spine. “Now I try to fix it all, I'm helping her and phoenix to stop this madness and to get our country back.”  
“That sounds dangerous.”  
“XSO doesn't know I'm out here right behind them, which is great.” she shrugged. “Now they are looking for you, they can't let you escape and tell everyone what they are doing. I'm scared that they will find out I'm out here, or they kill the General.”  
“Thanks for helping me. They didn't kill me when they found out what I had found out about them and their doings. They took me to a place, apparently out here. I remember that they hurt me to get specific information.”  
“Fuck,” she said quietly.   
John lifted an eyebrow.   
“That means they have already placed a doppelgänger at your place or they are about to do that—” she stopped in the middle of the sentence.   
She heard something and the dog was unrestful.


	5. Chapter 5

Wordlessly she drew her pistol and handed it to John.  
“Don't make me regret it.“ she said quietly.  
She gathered all her things, so they were able to run.  
“You stick with me, stay low. We will run to an area where we can shake them off.”  
She shouldered her pack and ordered the dog to get up.  
John made sure the gun, she just gave him, was ready.  
Natasha had readied her rifle and was now running, hunched over through the dense understorey.  
John followed her and Oskar, he was very happy that he had practical clothes because the bushes would have scraped up his legs.  
She seemed to we well trained and excellent knowledge of the terrain. John had troubles to keep up, his side still hurt and he was still recovering from the torture he had gone through when they had kept him. But he was willing to run. Not again he would risk running into their hands.  
He only thought ‘run so they don't get you!’  
In a slight panic, he looked over his shoulder, yet they were not to be seen. And he just ran, following Natasha into a denser region of the forest. The ground was much rockier and the bushes were getting more and more thorns. The high, dense trees barely let any light hit the ground, suddenly she stopped and let him catch up to her, then she grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him with her, up the hill and then she hid under a large rock. The smaller rocks around them provided cover and the plants hid them well. From up there, they could see the entire valley and the thin path.  
John shook his head, unbelievable. He looked at Oskar who hid his head under his paws, staying silent.  
And then they could see them, a group of ten or more XSO agents, equipped like soldiers.  
John watched how Natasha pulled up her scarf into her face and drew bead on them. She exhaled and pulled a trigger, the last of their formation fell down. The gunshot echoed from the surrounding hills.  
The rest of the group was cough up in a short moment of confusion. As soon as they realised that one of them had been taken down they all went into a new formation and started shooting into all directions.  
John started to fire at them, trying not to waste ammunition. But a pistol was not suited for this distance, even though he was a good shooter, he had trouble actually hitting something. When two of them were still standing, John got up and ran towards them. He focused on the one close to him, while the other was grounded by one of Natasha's bullets.  
The silence that now surrounded it had a relieving feel to it, Natasha left her cover and came up to him, making sure they all were dead and could not give their Generals any information about this.  
“Are you okay?” she asked John. After she had made sure that they were not in danger anymore.  
He nodded. “I'm just wondering— How long can we keep doing this?”  
“Not for long, we are going to head for the city now, on the strategically smartest way.”  
He nodded and handed her her gun.  
She chuckled and bent over to one of the agents they shot. “See, if his works out for you, he didn't use it and he has two extra clips with him. “ she pointed at the ammo.  
John grinned and took the man's stuff.  
“Alright, let's get moving. You lead the way. I could use a break for a nap soon,“ he looked really done and tired.  
“Alright, we will stop at the next spot that is suited and rest there. How are you feeling?”  
“My side hurts, it hurts like hell. And I'm really tired.”  
He looked pretty pale.  
After they had walked for another hour, Natasha had found a suited spot to camp.  
She had vanished right afterwards.  
A good hour later she returned with Oskar and two rabbits. She found John fast asleep, hand on his new gun. He was so paranoid but in the end, he had not been able to fight his tiredness.  
She smiled and then made sure he was covered and warm in her sleeping bag before she started to prep the rabbits to cook and eat them.

***

Three weeks later the three had finally reached the city, they had encountered the XSO a few more times. But they had managed to escape successfully. Jurow had contacted the Phoenix and they agreed on helping Kennex. And he could help them with the resistance.


End file.
